Tyler Perry Joins 'Star Trek' Cast

While The Hollywood Reporter says that Perry will "head the Starfleet Academy" in the franchise origin tale, it's unclear what specific character he'll be playing and if that character will literally be the dean/president/principal at Starfleet Academy or if that was just a turn of phrase of some sort.

Somewhat remarkably, Perry could now be the biggest name in the Paramount film, which began production in November.

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto star as Young Captain Kirk and Young Spock, which other key Enterprise casting featuring Karl Urban as Young Bones, Zoe Saldana as Young Uhura, John Cho as Young Sulu, Simon Pegg as Young Scotty and Anton Yelchin as Young Chekov.

A wildly successfully playwright and performer, Perry finally earned the attention of the mainstream media with a string of hit films for Lionsgate, a list of low-budget winners including "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," "Madea's Family Reunion" and, most recently, "Why Did I Get Married." His next film is this spring's "Meet the Browns."